"So, what do you think?" Danielle smirked as she stepped out of the dressing room stall and did a little twirl. She was clad in a navy blue dress with a sparkly empire waist band. It flowed away from her body. She looked amazing, though it was a bit fancy for everyday wear.
"Dani, you look seriously hot." I told her with a nod of approval. we had left the boys nearly two hours ago. We already had a lot of bags and were ready to go when Danielle begged me to go into this fancy store.
She turned to face the mirror and pursed her lips. She began swiveling around, craning her neck to check herself out from every angle. "Okay." She nodded happily. "I'm going to get it."
"Where on earth do you plan on wearing it?" I laughed a little, reaching for the pricetag. My jaw dropped when I saw it. "It's a fortune!"
"Liam's paying. I need a dress to wear to the premiere they're going too next week." Danielle explained as she gave herself one more quick once over. "Alright I'm going to get it." She said again, smiling brighter this time.
As she went into the change room I pulled out my cell phone. I had another text from Max and my face instantly lit up with happiness. I had been texting him all day - when Danielle wasn't looking, no need to get everyone suspicious of me. He was being really sweet - calling me beautuful, telling me how much he missed me, how proud he was if the experience I was having. It felt so much like the start of our relationship, before he had to leave anyway.
The door opened and Danielle stepped out, back in her jean skirt and tank top. "Is that Louis?" She giggled, nodding at my phone.
"What? Oh...no just my little sister." I lied.
"Things with you and Louis...they're moving fast right? You guys are like really close already right?" She asked with a slight smirk.
I narrowed my eyes at her. What was she getting at. "I guess so. We have a lot of fun together."
"I think he likes you." Danielle said in a sing song voice. I rolled my voice and her face became serious again. "I mean it, Stella. Liam and I were discussing it the other day. Louis has been so down lately - but ever since the day he met you in your office, he's getting back to the old Louis. You make him happy."
I bit my lip but smiled. "He's a really great guy." I said simply, careful not to dive in dangerous territory.
Her words actually made me feel like a piece of shit. I made Louis happy... And here I was planning on hurting him all over again. I was going to ruin his trust in humanity. I was going to screw everything up for him.
It was the first moment since I'd agreed to this that I actually thought about calling it all off. Louis really was a great guy, and hurting him was going to be the hardest thing I ever had to do.
"Oh my god, do you like him too?" Danielle's face lit up with a huge grin and she almost squealed a little.
"I'm not sure." I lied. I thought back to the texts from Max. I liked Louis as a person... But I loved Max.
"Oh my god you totally like him! Girl, you should tell him!" Danielle prodded.
I shook my head. "I hardly know him, honestly. We've just met. I don't want to ruin the great friendship we're establishing by rushing into something he's not ready for. You saw the look on his face. He's clearly torn up over Eleanor still."
I'm not sure why I was letting these words come out of my mouth. It was like I was back tracking. I could have used this to my advantage and gotten Danielle to set us up. But I pictured the sad look on Louis' face during the interview. I couldn't push him into this. Not yet anyway. Eventually I would have too. But for now I was just going to focus finding out details about his break up.
